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The lowdown

Every cheap eater’s favorite mini-chain is not so mini anymore. Not when there are fourteen New York branches and counting of the soulful, Shanxii-street-food specialist, with Boston and D.C. in owner Jason Wang’s sights. That doesn’t mean that Wang has gone Chipotle on us or that quality has slipped. On the contrary, every lamb-centric, cumin-charged dish is as good as it’s always been including the spicy lamb burgers, all the various hand-ripped noodles, the lamb dumplings, and our personal favorite, the lamb pao-mo soup. In fact, quality control seems to be foremost on Wang’s mind these days judging by this note on the restaurant’s website: *WARNING: PLEASE READ: Food tastes best when fresh from the kitchen. When hot noodles cool down, they get bloated, mushy, and oily. If you must take your noodles to go, please at least try the noodles in the store or right out of the to-go containers.”